THE 

NEW  COLLEGE  OF  AGRICULTURE 


CAL     FORNIA 


Main  Life. 


THE  NEW  COLLEGE  OP  AGRICULTURE 


[ Reprint  from  the  UNIVERSITY  or  CALIFORNIA  CHRONICLE,  Vol.  XV,  No.  1  ] 


'    :  "":"-.    ' ' 

.  - 


Mai- 


EECORD  OF  THE  DEDICATION  OF  THE  NEW 

COLLEGE  OF  AGRICULTURE  AND  OF 

THE  INSTALLATION  OF  DEAN 

THOMAS  FORSYTH  HUNT, 

NOVEMBER  20,  1912 


ADDRESS     OF     PRESIDENT     BENJAMIN     IDE     WHEELER 

Of  all  departments  of  the  University  the  well-being  of 
the  State  is  most  closely  interlocked  with  the  College  of 
Agriculture.  It  is  therefore  both  for  University  and  State 
a  significant  occasion  when  on  this  one  day  we  dedicate  a 
new  building  for  agriculture,  induct  into  office  a  new 
Director,  and  inaugurate  a  new  and  far-reaching  policy 
for  the  organization  and  equipment  of  agricultural  edu- 
cation. 

Our  problem  in  California  is  among  all  the  states  as 
uniquely  complicated  as  it  is  uniquely  vast.  The  variety 
of  our  products  of  the  soil  far  exceeds  that  of  any  other 
state.  The  tilling  of  our  soil  requires  for  efficiency  more 
use  of  special  knowledge  and  of  the  results  of  scientific 
investigation  than  the  agricultural  practice  of  any  other 
state.  Whether  it  be  for  the  production  of  wealth  or  for 
the  establishment  of  homes  and  the  morals  of  the  family, 
the  prosperity  and  soundness  of  the  state  is  chiefly  de- 
pendent on  the  farms  and  the  farmers.  If  you  want  popu- 
lation, commerce,  and  bank  deposits  for  your  cities,  seek 


o  r*  i 


*  •  *•-•;  • 

VH/-U 


:  •'  •* 


.  thrifty  farmers,  and  sound  procedure  for  your  farms,  and 
all  these  other  things  "shall  be  added  unto  you." 

The  Regents,  in  fashioning  a  policy  which  should  as- 
sume to  be  in  some  wise  commensurate  with  the  need  of 
the  state,  have  determined  first  of  all  to  seek  an  equipment 
in  men.  In  making  selection  they  have  looked  the  country 
over;  their  question  has  been, — not  whom  they  could  get, 
but  whom  did  they  want.  Five  such  men  they  have  already 
appointed  to  full  professorships,  and  these  with  others  to 
follow  will  begin  work  with  us  either  at  New  Year's  or 
the  coming  summer.  We  have  reckoned  hereby  on  Cali- 
fornians  as  likely  to  recognize  that  the  best  is  precisely 
what  they  want. 

The  second  feature  of  our  policy  involves  the  clear 
differentiation  of  the  various  forms  of  our  work  and  the 
development  of  each  into  its  proper  place.  Berkeley,  Davis, 
Riverside,  Whittier,  Meloland,  have  each  their  place  and 
work.  They  are  not  rivals,  but  each  the  center  for  a  certain 
sort  of  work.  Each  has  its  own  fitness.  Fresno  will  shortly 
be  added  to  the  list.  The  distribution  of  the  work  among 
these  centers  will  be  discussed  this  evening  by  Director 
Hunt  in  his  inaugural  address. 

But  more  important  than  the  various  places  are  the 
various  activities,  e.g.,  research  and  the  solving  of  problems, 
training  in  the  science  of  agriculture,  training  in  the  arts 
of  agriculture,  provision  of  short  courses,  spreading  of 
information  through  publications,  farmers'  institutes  and 
the  train  and  through  correspondence,  training  of  teachers 
and  provision  of  methods  for  agricultural  education  in  the 
schools. 

Experience  with  the  school  at  Davis  proves  that  the 
provision  of  education  for  young  farmers  who  have  passed 
the  age  when  they  could  be  expected  to  go  through  the 
schedules  of  a  preparatory  and  a  college  course  is  a  real 
need.  This  was  really  what  the  farmers  wanted  when 
agricultural  education  was  first  attempted,  only  we  did 
not  fully  understand  them.  It  is  fortunate  we  can  develop 


this  form  of  instruction  at  a  distance  from  the  university. 
Equally  important  is  it  that  the  stricter  training  in  the 
science  of  agriculture  which  is  to  provide  the  teachers  and 
discoverers  should  be  conducted  at  least  in  the  earlier  years 
at  the  university. 

What  we  saw  once  as  in  a  glass  darkly,  we  are  coming 
now  to  see  clearly.  We  have  with  all  this  variety  of  equip- 
ment and  location  the  opportunity  to  develop  in  California 
the  completest  and  richest  system  of  agricultural  education 
and  research  that  the  world  has  yet  seen.  We  have  made 
our  beginning.  We  have  the  place  for  it  and  the  sky  for 
it  and  the  heart  for  it.  We  will  prove  it  to  the  people  of 
California  well  worth  while  and  they  will  support  us. 

ADDRESS    OF    PETER    J.    SHIELDS 

It  would  be  impossible,  in  the  few  moments  which  the 
circumstances  permit,  for  me  to  fittingly  express  the  signifi- 
cance of  this  hour.  It  is  the  culmination  of  long  years  of 
waiting,  of  the  slow  growth  of  a  Western  civilization ;  the 
fruit  of  fine  hopes  and  patient,  unselfish  efforts.  It  is  the 
beginning  of  a  larger  effort  to  teach  men  the  sound  princi- 
ples which  have  stood  the  test  of  experience  and  which  in 
all  ages  have  given  security  and  happiness  to  the  peoples 
that  have  practiced  them.  I  should  like  to  felicitate  with 
you  over  what  has  been  done,  but  we  must  press  on  for 
what  remains  for  us  to  do.  I  should  like  to  speak  a  few 
words  in  praise  of  those  who  have  helped  in  this  work,  but 
they  do  not  need  it.  It  is  enough  that  their  wish  has  been 
realized;  that  the  truth  for  which  they  labored,  today 
receives  this  high  sanction.  I  should  like  to  speak  of  agri- 
culture as  one  of  the  noblest  of  all  occupations,  but  it  is  in 
submission  to  that  truth  that  we  are  here  and  it  does  not 
need  expression. 

We  have  contended  warmly  over  what  was  education, 
as  to  what  were  its  aids  and  its  agencies.  Some  of  us  have 
doubted  whether  men  might  be  educated  through  things, 


6 


through  a  knowledge  of  nature,  and  the  practice  of  her 
laws.  It  would  be  interesting  today  to  take  up  that  dis- 
cussion, but  it  would  be  fruitless.  That  cause  has  been 
tried,  and  today  in  monumental  form,  we  record  the  verdict. 

It  will  be  enough  to  point  to  the  most  tangible  lesson 
of  history  that  agricultural  industry  has  been  the  surest 
foundation  for  a  state  and  the  extent  to  which  it  was 
fostered  has  been  the  measure  of  a  people's  progress. 

Mysterious  Egypt,  of  which  we  know  only  that  it  was 
great,  at  the  height  of  its  development  made  slaves  of  its 
farmers.  Magnificent  India  founded  its  future  upon  agri- 
culturalists whom  she  condemned  to  a  degraded  caste.  Rome 
plundered  and  oppressed  her  farmers  to  a  condition  of 
poverty  and  discredit.  They  are  all  gone,  and  volumes 
have  been  written  in  an  effort  to  trace  the  cause.  It  could 
be  written  in  a  sentence.  They  built  their  societies  from 
the  top,  and  devoted  their  efforts  to  the  worship  of  false 
social  quantities.  That  we  should  honor  agriculture  is  the 
lesson  of  their  dread  experience.  But  we  cannot  do  this 
as  a  duty;  it  must  spring  from  an  honest  estimate.  This 
building  stands  for  this  appreciation  and  respect.  It  will 
help  us  to  honor  agriculture,  through  making  it  honorable. 
It  will  unfold  its  mysteries,  it  will  exhibit  its  beauties,  it 
will  develope  its  strength  till  an  admiring  and  respectful 
nation  will  proclaim  its  primacy. 

This  country  was  founded  upon  the  principle  that  labor 
is  honorable,  and  we  made  agriculture  our  chief  pursuit. 
We  have  grown  in  devotion  to  that  truth.  We  have  got  our 
vigor  from  the  soil.  Most  of  our  ablest  men  have  been 
country-bred.  Our  distinctive  institutions  were  nourished 
there.  Its  ideals  have  colored  and  formed  our  policies.  In 
recent  years  this  dominance  has  been  threatened,  and  our 
problems  have  multiplied.  This  way  lies  their  correction. 

I  will  not  attempt  any  elaboration  of  this  structure's 
significance.  It  stands  as  a  monument  to  the  new  agricul- 
ture, the  agriculture  of  thought  and  knowledge  which  has 
come  to  redeem  the  industry  and  to  secure  for  it  its  propor- 


tionate  place  in  our  civilization.  It  means  the  beauty  and 
the  strength  of  the  out-of-doors.  It  means  the  peace  and 
solitude  where  men  think  profoundly  and  adhere  tenaci- 
ously, where  strong  characters  are  formed  and  high  pur- 
poses are  nourished.  It  means  food  and  raiment  and 
shelter;  the  primal  things  that  go  to  the  roots  of  life,  and 
supply  the  basis  of  all  of  our  institutions.  It  stands  for 
toil  and  proclaims  the  honest  eminence  of  useful  labor.  It 
stands  for  simplicity  as  the  eternal  measure  of  permanence. 
It  calls  men  out  from  the  crowded  places  to  where  the 
horizon  is  wide,  where  the  majesty  of  nature  prompts  man 
to  its  imitation. 

We  are  multiplying  very  rapidly  the  complications  of 
our  civilization  and  we  ask  ourselves  to  what  limits  we  may 
safely  go  in  the  direction  we  call  progress.  The  answer 
is  here,  that  we  cannot  get  far  away  from  the  standards  this 
structure  proclaims,  from  the  country-bred  man,  the  man 
who  is  constantly  measuring  his  work  with  the  work  of 
nature  and  thus  keeping  it  true.  Life  may  become  very 
fine  and  high,  but  it  must  remain  natural  to  keep  its 
strength.  We  should  look  to  this  hall  as  a  beacon,  lighting 
the  way  in  which  we  may  go  in  safety.  It  will  stand  a  per- 
petual reproach  to  frivolity,  artificiality,  and  idleness;  it 
will  supply  an  antidote  for  the  dependence  of  the  sub- 
merged, and  for  the  arrogance  of  the  over-fortunate.  It 
proclaims  the  farmer  the  type  man  of  America;  it  ad- 
monishes us  to  train  him — but  keep  him  a  farmer.  - 

Agriculture  is  not  only  an  industry,  it  is  a  life.  This 
building  stands  for  the  preservation  of  that  life,  for  its 
elevation  and  such  a  distribution  of  its  ideals  as  will  flavor 
the  whole  life  of  our  country. 

This  is  indeed  a  great  day  for  California.  We  are  taking 
stock  of  our  condition.  When  we  find  a  people  engaged  as 
we  are  today,  met  in  the  spirit  in  which  we  are  met,  we 
know  that  they  are  going  forward  on  the  broad  highway  of 
life,  that  their  estimate  of  social  values  is  true,  and  that  they 
have  avoided  the  temptations  to  which  other  nations  have 
succumbed. 


Different  states  or  societies  at  different  times  have  built 
monuments  to  the  principles  they  worshipped;  to  express 
their  faiths  or  to  point  their  hopes.  A  mystic  race  built 
the  Pyramids.  Today  these  stand,  lonesome  sentinels  in 
the  desert,  typifying  nothing  save  that  races  not  soundly 
founded  will  perish.  Tamerlane  built  a  structure  of  skulls 
in  testimony  of  his  faith  in  war  and  its  all-conquering 
power.  It  crumbled  scarcely  as  fast  as  his  leadership,  his 
empire,  his  people,  and  his  race ;  as  the  false  principles  upon 
which  he  had  based  the  success  of  his  efforts.  The  Pagan 
races  erected  temples  to  earth-made  gods,  but  these  people 
banished,  their  gods  are  forgotten,  their  temples  have  dis- 
appeared, or  their  fragments  remain  in  proof  that  what  is 
not  true  cannot  be  perpetuated.  The  triumphal  arches 
of  the  Eomans  serve  only  to  remind  us  that  the  judgment 
which  called  them  such  was  mistaken,  and  that  a  race 
devoted  to  conquest  and  oppression  will  disappear.  The 
monuments  upon  the  torture  fields  of  Smithfield  and  Salem 
are  the  tombstones  of  dead  institutions. 

The  monument  we  have  built  here  was  built  in  another 
spirit.  It  was  built  in  submission  to  an  all-prevading  law, 
built  in  harmony  with  nature.  It  was  built  to  serve  human 
need  and  not  the  greed  or  vanity  of  privilege.  It  was  built 
in  devotion  to  knowledge  and  industry,  the  everlasting 
things.  It  will  survive,  in  the  things  it  stands  for,  while 
the  world  lasts.  Tens  of  millions  of  people  will  come  to 
this  fair  land,  to  live  here  a  more  involved  and  elaborated 
life  than  the  world  has  elsewhere  known.  If  they  keep 
their  eyes  upon  this  temple  and  walk  in  its  shadow,  if  they 
practice  the  truths  for  which  it  stands,  their  society  will 
live  as  long. 

Today  we  reaffirm  that  faith.  Let  us  rededicate  our- 
selves to  the  efforts  which  have  brought  about  this  hour. 
Let  us  build  this  structure  higher  and  broader  until  its 
spirit  is  in  every  heart  and  until  every  hearthstone  in  our 
country  becomes  part  of  its  foundation. 


ADDRESS   OF   E.   P.    CLARKE 

In  one  of  his  letters  to  Timothy  the  Apostle  Paul  speaks 
of  a  class  of  men  who  are  ''ever  learning  and  never  able  to 
come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth";  and  that  very  accu- 
rately describes  the  condition  of  the  growers  of  oranges 
and  lemons  in  California.  For  nearly  fifty  years  they  have 
been  studying  and  experimenting  but  they  cannot  claim 
today  to  have  reached  a  position  where  they  feel  sure  even 
of  the  fundamentals  of  an  industry  which  has  become  one 
of  the  greatest  in  the  state.  California  produces  annually 
over  40,000  cars  of  oranges  and  lemons,  bringing  nearly 
$20,000,000  every  season  to  the  growers.  These  figures 
would  seem  to  spell  success  and  in  a  limited  sense  they  do ; 
but  the  growers  do  not  know  but  that  they  ought  to  be 
producing  50,000  or  60,000  cars  as  easily  as  40,000 ;  and  they 
are  quite  sure  that  on  much  of  their  acreage  they  ought  to 
be  producing  better  fruit.  On  questions  of  methods,  on 
the  problems  of  planting,  irrigation,  fertilization,  pruning, 
frost  protection,  and  other  essentials  in  the  business,  they 
are  still  in  the  primer  and  I  might  almost  say  in  the  kinder- 
garten class. 

There  came  recently  to  Riverside,  one  of  the  great 
centers  of  the  orange  industry,  a  wise  man  from  England — 
and  sometimes  when  they  are  wise  there  they  are  very  sure 
about  it.  This  particular  wise  man  was  one  of  that  type; 
and  after  a  few  days'  stay  "in  our  midst,"  as  the  country 
editor  would  say,  he  proceeded  to  tell  us  that  everything 
we  did  about  the  orange  and  lemon  business  was  all  wrong. 
He  told  us  that  we  did  not  know  how  to  plant  our  orchards 
properly  in  the  first  place  and  then  that  our  methods  of 
applying  the  water,  cultivating  the  soil,  fertilizing,  etc., 
were  improper  and  the  wonder  was  that  we  raise  any 
oranges  at  all.  I  am  not  quite  sure  but  that  he  holds  that 
the  sun  rises  and  sets  in  the  wrong  place  in  Riverside; 
certain  it  is  that  he  found  pretty  much  everything  else 


10 


wrong  there  and  in  every  other  orange  growing  community 
that  he  condescended  to  inspect. 

Some  few  laughed  him  to  scorn  and  would  not  admit 
that  the  methods  tested  by  years  of  experiment  should  be 
set  aside  on  the  ex-cathedra  advice  of  one  who  might  be  an 
authority  and  who  might  also  be  an  impractical  theorist. 
In  general,  however,  his  revolutionary  statements  were  re- 
ceived by  the  growers  with  chastened  attention,  if  not  with 
humiliation  and  repentance,  and  many  said,  "Well,  he  may 
be  right,  we  are  not  sure,"  and  they  are  preparing  to  adopt 
the  recommendations  of  this  wise  man  from  England  and 
make  a  complete  change  in  their  cultural  methods.  They 
are  ready  to  do  this  because  they  are  not  confident  of  the 
correctness  of  their  present  methods  and  not  satisfied  with 
the  results  they  are  attaining. 

Nearly  two  years  ago  the  paper  with  which  I  am  con- 
nected startled  some  of  the  orange  growers  of  Riverside,  and 
offended  others,  by  announcing  in  a  leading  editorial  that  the 
orange  groves  of  this,  the  oldest  and  largest  citrus  growing 
district  in  the  state,  were  not  producing  nearly  as  much  fruit 
as  they  ought  to  or  as  the  groves  in  certain  other  sections, 
where  the  conditions  were  practically  the  same  as  in  River- 
side, were  producing.  We  followed  up  this  editorial  with  a 
series  of  articles  that  were  intended  to  prove  the  correct- 
ness of  the  premises  laid  down  and  to  arouse  interest  in 
improved  methods.  We  made  out  a  very  good  case,  at  least 
we  thought  so,  and  some  growers  were  even  grateful  for 
the  criticism  and  said  so  (an  experience  that  is  exceedingly 
rare  in  newspaper  offices).  We  invited  suggestions  as  to 
remedies  and  received  scores  of  letters  many  of  which  read 
like  the  directions  for  the  use  of  patent  medicines  and 
advanced  claims  for  results  that  were  as  sweeping  as  those 
guaranteed  in  the  advertisements  of  these  same  remedies. 
Some  of  these  suggestions  were  well  considered  and  helpful, 
others  were  fantastical  and  absurd;  but  even  the  most 
absurd  received  a  measure  of  consideration  because  the 
average  grower  does  not  feel  sure  that  his  methods  are  the 


11 

correct  ones  and  he  is  ready  to  try  almost  any  nostrum,  if  it 
is  recommended  to  him  in  sufficiently  alluring  terms.  Here 
is  a  community  of  the  most  experienced  and  most  successful 
orange  growers  in  the  state  and  one  would  naturally  sup- 
pose that  they  would,  after  these  many  years  of  experience, 
have  reached  substantial  agreement  as  to  how  to  grow 
oranges;  but  we  find  them  proposing,  from  their  several 
individual  experiences,  a  score  of  different  methods  dia- 
metrically opposed  to  one  another.  Some  of  these  may  IM* 
right  but  most  of  them  are  probably  radically  wrong. 

Within  the  last  twenty-five  years  I  have  seen  groves 
budded  from  oranges  to  lemons,  from  lemons  to  cjrape  fruit, 
from  grape  fruit  back  to  oranges,  from  navels  to  Valencias 
and  from  Valencias  back  to  navels  again.  The  economic 
waste  in  this  series  of  changes  is  enormous  and  it  can  be 
accounted  for  only  on  the  ground  of  indecision  and  Qu< 
tion  of  opinion  as  to  what  is  the  wise  and  profitable  thing 
to  do.  The  same  fluctuation  of  opinion  in  most  lines  of 
business  would  be  more  likely  to  be  followed  by  bankruptcy 
than  success. 

Why  do  I  on  this  occasion  make  this  confession  of  ad- 
mitted ignorance  and  partial  failure  in  behalf  of  the 
orange  growers  of  Southern  California?  In  order  that  I 
may  emphasize  the  pressing  need  and  the  wonderful  oppor- 
tunity of  the  department  of  agriculture  of  the  University 
of  California.  We  are  assembled  today  to  give  recognition 
to  its  expansion  and  to  rejoice  in  the  completion  of  the 
noble  building  by  which  its  usefulness  will  be  enhanced; 
but  we  must  not  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  the  fields  are 
still  white  for  the  harvest  and  that  from  all  over  the  state 
there  is  coming  up  to  this  department  of  our  great  university 
a  demand  for  scientific  investigation,  experiment,  and  in- 
struction which  is  not  only  important  but  essential  to  the 
future  prosperity  and  development  of  the  state.  I  have 
spoken  of  conditions  in  the  citrus  industry  because  I  am 
familiar  with  them,  but  the  same  need  for  help  exists  in 
other  branches  of  fruit  growing  and  farming;  and  in  some 


12 


instances  it  is  more  imperative  than  it  is  in  the  case  of  the 
grower  of  oranges  and  lemons. 

It  is  doubtful  if  there  can  be  found  anywhere  in  the 
world  a  more  intelligent  and  enterprising  class  of  men 
engaged  in  any  form  of  agriculture  than  those  who  are  in 
the  business  of  fruit  growing  in  California.  Many  of  them 
were  men  of  large  affairs  in  the  East  and  they  have  sought 
to  apply  to  the  fruit  industry  in  this  state  the  energy,  in- 
telligence, and  enterprise  that  gave  them  conspicuous  suc- 
cess in  other  lines  of  business.  They  are  moreover  respon- 
sive in  an  unusual  degree  to  suggestion  and  instruction 
when  it  comes  from  a  source  that  has  some  claims  to 
authority;  but  they  are  agreed  that  the  problems  which 
confront  them  are  too  great  to  be  solved  by  individual  or 
even  community  effort.  Even  the  owner  of  a  large  ranch 
cannot  maintain  a  laboratory  on  his  grounds  and  he  cannot 
afford  to  convert  a  considerable  part  of  his  property  into 
an  experiment  station  where  various  theories  and  sugges- 
tions may  be  worked  out  to  some  ultimate  conclusion;  and 
if  that  is  true  of  the  large  grower,  the  helplessness  of  the 
owner  of  a  small  ranch  is  the  more  apparent. 

The  citrus  fruit  growers  of  California  must  spend  not 
less  than  $6,000,000  a  year  on  fertilizers ;  but  they  are  not  at 
all  sure  that  this  money  is  spent  wisely.  They  experiment 
with  different  things  from  year  to  year,  and  it  is  not  easy 
to  find  any  two  who  pursue  exactly  the  same  method  or  who 
are  agreed  as  to  what  is  the  best  system. 

Take  the  matter  of  frost  protection  as  another  illustra- 
tion. Last  winter  was  the  most  severe  the  citrus  belt  in 
California  and  Arizona  has  experienced  for  twenty  years; 
fully  10,000  carloads  of  oranges  and  lemons  were  destroyed 
by  cold  or  damaged  so  that  they  were  marketed  with  loss 
instead  of  profit.  The  loss  was  at  least  $5,000,000  to  the 
growers;  and  to  a  considerable  extent  that  loss  was  un- 
doubtedly preventable.  But  here  again  there  is  need  of 
careful,  thorough,  scientific  study  of  the  problem  such  as 
the  university  can  give.  Much  has  been  done  already  in 


13 


the  investigation  of  this  subject  and  the  university  authori- 
ties have  done  their  part;  but  we  are  still  very  much  at 
sea  as  to  what  to  do  and  how  to  do  it.  Conclusions  will  not 
be  reached  in  a  day  as  the  result  of  any  investigation ;  but 
if  the  experiments  are  conducted  with  such  care  and  thor- 
oughness as  a  corps  of  trained  men  can  give  to  them  the 
conclusions,  when  reached,  will  make  possible  immunity 
from  any  such  general  and  disastrous  loss  as  came  to  the 
orange  and  lemon  growers  last  December. 

If  the  picture  I  have  drawn  regarding  conditions  in  the 
orange  industry  seems  rather  a  dark  one,  there  is  a  bright 
side  which  ought  to  be  given  equal  prominence.  Some  of 
the  most  important  benefits  and  improvements  that  have 
come  to  the  industry  in  recent  years  have  been  the  direct 
result  of  scientific  research  by  representatives  of  the  state 
university  and  the  federal  department  of  agriculture. 
While  we  expect  much  greater  things  of  the  university  in 
the  future,  we  have  not  forgotten  the  good  work  done,  with 
limited  facilities,  under  the  direction  of  Professor  Hilgard 
and  Professor  Wickson.  The  orange  growers  remember 
their  deliverance  from  the  cottony  cushion  scale  by  the 
vedalia  cardinalis  and  the  prompt  and  effective  work  done 
to  stamp  out  the  dreaded  white  fly,  just  as  the  lemon  men 
deeply  appreciate  the  important  work  accomplished  in  the 
investigation  of  the  brown  rot,  and  as  other  industries 
appreciate  the  work  in  their  behalf  on  the  walnut  blight, 
the  pear  blight,  the  tomato  rust  and  other  troubles  with 
which  the  farmers  of  the  state  have  had  to  contend.  The 
improvements  in  methods  of  handling  oranges  suggested 
by  Mr.  G.  Harold  Powell  have  been  generally  adopted  and 
without  doubt  have  saved  the  growers  upwards  of 
$1,000,000  a  year.  Mr.  A.  D.  Shamel,  another  expert  from 
Washington,  is  now  studying  the  problem  of  barren  and 
productive  strains  of  oranges  and  has  already  demon- 
strated the  fact  that  quite  a  large  percentage  of  the  trees 
in  our  orange  groves  were  budded  from  unproductive  stock, 
thus  greatly  diminishing  the  yield  which  should  be  received. 


14 


Extensive  rebudding  will  follow  his  investigations  and  all 
future  budding  will  be  done  from  trees  known  not  only  to 
be  vigorous  in  growth  but  known  also  to  be  producing 
regularly  a  heavy  crop  of  fruit  of  good  quality. 

Some  of  the  things  taught  the  orange  growers  by  Mr. 
Powell  and  Mr.  Shamel  have  been  so  simple  and  ele- 
elementary  that  they  wonder  why  they  never  discovered 
them  for  themselves;  but  that  work  requires  men  trained 
in  scientific  research.  What  has  been  done  simply  suggests 
the  almost  boundless  field  for  future  endeavor,  provided 
men  and  means  are  supplied  to  do  the  work. 

Very  largely  I  have  been  considering  field  work  in  my 
references  to  results  accomplished;  but  without  buildings 
and  equipment  such  as  we  rejoice  in  today,  the  preparation 
for  and  direction  of  the  field  work  is  impracticable  and  the 
co-related  laboratory  investigation  is  impossible.  The  first 
need  is  men  but  we  need  facilities  to  train  them  and  equip- 
ment to  make  their  work  effective.  The  present  day  ' '  back 
to  the  farm"  movement,  of  which  we  hear  so  much,  is  empha- 
sized by  the  multiplication  of  agricultural  high  schools  and 
the  inauguration  of  new  colonization  schemes.  Unless, 
however,  these  schools  are  supplied  with  competent  teachers 
they  will  largely  fail  of  their  purpose;  and  unless  both 
promoters  and  colonists  in  land  enterprises  are  properly 
instructed  and  directed,  disappointment  and  disaster  will 
attend  many  endeavors  that  are  honest  and  well  intended. 
Just  here  we  need  the  university  to  step  in  and  furnish  the 
instruction  and  expert  knowledge  that  are  essential  either 
for  successful  teaching  or  successful  farming. 

In  California  it  is  no  great  miracle  to  make  two  blades 
of  grass  grow  where  none  grew  before;  the  application  of 
water  to  our  soil  will  do  that;  but  to  make  two  bushels  of 
wheat  grow  where  one  grows  now,  to  make  the  vineyards 
produce  two  tons  of  grapes  where  one  is  produced  now,  and 
to  make  possible  the  harvesting  of  two  boxes  of  oranges 
where  one  is  harvested  now — these  problems  are  not  so 


15 

simple  and  easy  of  solution.  To  master  them,  the  farmers 
of  the  state  need  the  very  best  help  the  university  can  give 
them. 

Perhaps  some  will  expect  too  much  from  the  enlarged 
scope  of  the  activities  of  the  agricultural  department  of  the 
university;  certain  it  is  that  no  work  it  may  ever  do  can 
guarantee  every  farmer  in  the  state  a  big  crop  every  year 
and  an  automobile  to  go  to  town  in.  To  those,  however, 
who  will  reach  out  to  take  hold  of  the  guiding  hand  which 
the  university  will  extend,  it  will  be  possible  to  walk  in 
the  broad  highway  of  success.  I  believe  that  President 
Wheeler  and  the  Regents  of  the  University  have  a  vision 
of  the  future  relations  of  the  University  to  the  farmers  and 
fruit  growers  of  California  that  will  be  made  possible  by 
the  work  of  men  like  Dr.  Hunt,  Dr.  "Webber,  and  Professor 
Stubenrauch — a  vision  which  will  be  realized  in  a  vast 
increase  in  the  cultivated  area  of  the  state  and  an  increase 
in  crops  commensurate  with  the  fertility  of  our  soil  and  the 
perpetual  stimulus  of  our  golden  sunshine. 

California  is  expecting  to  reap  great  benefits  from  the 
opening  of  the  Panama  Canal'  but  the  completion  of  that 
great  undertaking  is  going  to  bring  us  problems  as  well  as 
blessings.  The  rich  tourist  can  come  to  California  now  but 
the  present  immigrant  from  Europe  stops  on  the  other  side 
of  the  country.  The  railroad  fare  from  New  York  to  San 
Francisco  acts  as  a  high  tariff  that  operates  to  shut  this 
class  of  immigration  out  of  California.  With  the  opening 
of  the  canal,  however,  the  immigrant  from  Europe  can 
come  in  through  the  Golden  Gate  and  be  landed  in  San 
Francisco  at  practically  the  same  steamship  fare  he  now 
pays  to  reach  New  York.  And  they  will  come  here — not 
the  fair-haired,  blue-eyed  Saxon  from  the  north  but  much 
| less  desirable  classes,  the  timid  and  thrifty  Jew  from 
Russia,  the  stolid  Slav  from  Central  Europe,  and  the  hot- 
blooded  Latin  from  the  Mediterranean.  Are  we  ready  for 
them  ?  Not  yet.  If  they  congregate  in  the  cities,  they  will 
prove  a  curse  rather  than  a  blessing  to  the  state.  The  only 


16 


hope  we  have  of  assimilating  them  is  to  get  them  out  on 
the  farms. 

California  is  not  a  manufacturing  state,  we  cannot  re- 
store the  gold  to  the  gravels  along  our  streams  that  once 
offered  wealth  to  the  prospector,  and  it  will  take  centuries 
to  re-forest  our  mountains  with  the  timber  that  was  once 
another  source  of  wealth  and  means  of  employment.  But 
the  latent  fertility  of  our  soil  abides  and  with  proper  man- 
agement will  never  fail  us.  Generations  may  come  and  go 
but  harvest  will  continue  to  follow  seed  time.  "We  must 
prepare  the  land  for  these  people  who  are  coming  and  when 
they  come  prepare  them  for  the  land;  and  that  great  work 
must  largely  be  done  by  the  agricultural  department  of  the 
state  university.  By  conserving  and  developing  our  water 
supply  and  by  applying  more  scientific  methods  to  our  farm- 
ing, we  can  make  room  for  many  thousands  more  in  the  un- 
developed north,  in  the  fertile  valleys  of  the  Sacramento 
and  San  Joaquin — an  empire  in  themselves — and  on  great 
stretches  of  land  redeemed  from  desert  in  the  south.  The 
invading  hordes  will  not  be  a  menace  to  our  state  if  we  can 
make  farmers  of  them  and  place  them  in  the  environment 
of  country  life.  On  the  contrary,  they  will  become  loyal 
and  true  Americans  who  will  bow  with  us  in  reverence  for 
the  lustre  of  the  stripes  and  the  glory  of  the  stars  of  the 
flag  we  love  and  honor. 


17 


KESPONSE  OF  THOMAS  FOKSYTH  HUNT,  DEAN  OF  THE 

COLLEGE  OF  AGRICULTURE  AND  DIRECTOR  OF  THE 

AGRICULTURE  EXPERIMENT  STATION  OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  UPON 

FORMAL  INDUCTION  INTO  OFFICE 


In  accepting  the  responsibility  of  Dean  of  the  College  of 
Agriculture  and  Director  of  the  Agricultural  Experiment 
Station,  it  must  be  recognized  that  I  represent  only  one  of 
the  agencies  by  which  the  University  of  California  seeks 
to  develop  the  commonwealth.  The  office  into  which  I  have 
just  been  formally  inducted  typifies  the  University's  rela- 
tion to  the  public  welfare.  The  organization  thus  repre- 
sented looks  back  over  a  generation  of  steady  and  successful 
development  under  the  guidance  of  but  two  directors,  both 
of  whom  have  the  unique  distinction  of  remaining  as 
honored  members  of  the  faculty.  The  institution  will  honor 
itself  during  this  day's  exercises  by  remembering  them 
with  loving  kindness. 

With  every  generation  of  men  new  problems  arise. 
Through  the  operation  of  this  law,  the  College  of  Agri- 
culture finds  itself  in  just  that  attitude.  Some  of  these 
problems  are  the  most  important  as  well  as  the  most  funda- 
mental with  which  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  has  grappled 
during  the  past  forty  centuries.  The  faculty  of  the  College 
of  Agriculture  suffers  no  illusions  concerning  its  own  limi- 
tations and  makes  no  promises  beyond  pledging  its  best 
endeavors. 

Upon  behalf  of  himself  and  his  associates  the  Dean  and 
Director  appeals  to  all  agencies,  public  and  private,  for 
assistance  and  guidance.  He  asks  the  sympathy  and 
patience  of  the  governor  of  the  state,  the  president  of  the 
University,  the  Board  of  Kegents,  faculty  and  citizens  of 
California,  while  the  following  sane,  safe,  and  sensible 


18 


policies  of  his  predecessors,  he  unobstrusively  and  without 
undue  publicity  endeavors  to  organize  the  best  and  most 
efficient  faculty  of  agriculture  that  has  ever  been  known. 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  AN  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE  BY 
EUGENE  W.  HILGARD* 

In  celebrating  today  the  completion  of  this  building 
devoted  to  the  higher  phases  of  agricultural  education,  we 
hark  back  to  the  time  when,  just  fifty  years  ago,  the  first 
national  recognition  of  the  importance  and  rights  of  voca- 
tional education  was  placed  upon  the  status  of  the  United 
States  by  Senator  Justin  Morrill,  of  Vermont.  At  the 
very  height  of  the  Civil  War,  there  was  thus  manifested 
the  confidence  in  the  future  of  the  nation  by  the  enactment 
of  this  important  measure  for  the  promotion  of  the  funda- 
mental industry  of  peace.  I  propose  to  recall  very  briefly 
the  subsequent  development  of  the  educational  and  experi- 
mental work  thus  initiated,  and  which  through  many  vicissi- 
tudes has  now  become  an  almost  overshadowing  movement, 
among  the  results  of  which  is  the  splendid  building  before 
which  we  stand. 

The  critical  clause  of  the  " First  Morrill  Act"  provided 
that  "there  shall  be  established  in  each  state  at  least  one 
college,  the  leading  object  of  which  shall  be,  without  ex- 
cluding classical  and  other  literary  studies,  and  including 
military  tactics,  to  teach  the  sciences  bearing  on  agriculture 
and  mechanic  arts,  for  the  education  of  the  industrial 
classes  in  the  several  pursuits  and  professions  of  life." 
The  interpretation  of  this  clause  has  been  the  subject  of 
much  controversy  ever  since  the  end  of  the  Civil  War ;  and 
the  echoes  of  that  controversy  are  still  at  times  with  us. 
On  the  one  hand,  it  was  contended  that  the  act  was  intended 
for  the  vocational  education  of  "every  farmer's  son  in  the 
land, ' '  and  that  the  funds  derived  from  the  sale  of  the  lands 


*  Read  at  the  Dedication  Exercises  by  Professor  R.  H.  Loughridge. 


19 

allotted  for  that  purpose  should  be  used  in  the  establishment 
of  numerous  schools  of  agriculture  scattered  in  the  rural 
districts ;  or  in  order  not  to  scatter  the  funds  too  much,  that 
one  or  several  such  schools  should  be  established  at  easily 
accessible  points.  On  the  other  hand,  it  was  contended  that 
in  view  of  the  utter  inadequacy  of  the  funds  if  thus  applied, 
and  in  view  also  of  the  use  of  the  words  "college"  and 
"sciences,"  the  intention  was  that  one  or  more  institutions 
of  college  grade,  for  the  training  of  agricultural  experts 
and  teachers,  would  be  the  most  feasible  way  to  fulfill  the 
intent  of  the  Morrill  Act,  so  that  farm  schools,  or  instruc- 
tion in  agriculture  in  the  rural  common  and  high  schools, 
could  be  gradually  brought  about. 

Some  states,  e.g.,  Pennsylvania,  Iowa,  and  Kansas,  at 
once  adopted  the  first  or  *  *  popular ' '  plan,  and  took  pains  to 
establish  the  agricultural  college  far  away  from  the  sup- 
posed pernicious  influence  of  the  state  universities,  where, 
as  it  was  urged,  boys  would  be  "educated  away  from  the 
farm,"  and  be  looked  down  upon  by  the  students  in  the 
literary  and  scientific  courses. 

Having  in  1868  been  charged  by  the  Regents  of  the 
University  of  Mississippi  with  the  organization  of  the  state 
agricultural  college  in  connection  with  the  university,  and 
finding  irreconcilable  differences  of  opinion  among  the  col- 
leges already  established,  I  wrote  to  Senator  Morrill  himself 
for  an  authoritative  statement  of  his  views  and  intentions 
in  framing  the  bill  bearing  his  name.  He  replied  that  while 
his  object,  as  stated  in  the  bill,  was  to  have  the  industrial 
masses  better  educated  in  their  pursuits,  he  had  purposely 
left  the  several  states  to  determine,  by  trial  or  otherwise, 
how  this  object  could  best  be  accomplished ;  but  that  in  the 
absence  of  any  adequate  number  of  competent  teachers  for 
agricultural  schools,  he  thought  the  establishment  of  at 
least  one  high-class  college  in  each  state  to  be  necessary. 
The  states  themselves  should  do  the  rest.  I  should  add  that 
in  Mississippi  I  was  compelled  by  popular  clamor  to  estab- 
lish first  of  all  a  farm  school,  with  a  noted  practical  agri- 


20 


culturist  as  chief  instructor.  His  name  at  first  attracted 
quite  a  class  of  students.  Brt  when  these  found  that,  as 
they  thought,  they  were  simply  made  to  work  as  they  had 
been  doing  at  home,  with  only  a  little  education  thrown  in, 
they  became  dissatisfied  and  left,  saying  they  would  rather 
work  for  their  parents  than  for  the  college.  The  experience 
thus  gained  was  very  useful  to  me  afterwards. 

In  this  state,  as  is  well  known,  the  University  was 
formed  by  the  conjoining  of  the  College  of  California  and 
the  College  of  Agriculture  and  Mechanic  Arts ;  the  latter  is 
therefore  one  of  the  fundamental  units  of  the  institution; 
and  of  the  two  buildings  first  constructed,  the  present 
11  South  Hall"  was  originally  designated  as  the  College  of 
Agriculture,  and  still  bears  on  its  gable  ends  sheaves  of 
cereals  and  fruit.  But  when  I  came  to  Berkeley  as  pro- 
fessor of  agriculture,  I  found  that  building  occupied  in  the 
main  by  other  scientific  departments,  and  by  the  library, 
there  being  no  other  accommodations  for  these,  while  to 
agriculture  was  assigned  one-half  of  the  basement.  This 
assignment  formed  the  main  basis  for  the  complaints  of 
my  predecessor,  that  agriculture  was  deprived  of  its  proper 
share  in  the  University  funds  and  accommodations  that  it 
was  given  the  cold  shoulder  by  the  Regents,  and  should 
be  removed  from  their  control  to  a  location  in  the  rural 
districts.  This  he  proclaimed  to  the  then  very  influential 
farmers'  organization,  the  Patrons  of  Husbandry,  now 
better  known  as  the  Grangers,  and  with  their  aid  and  sup- 
port he  introduced  into  the  legislature  a  bill  to  segregate 
the  College  of  Agriculture  from  the  University  of  Cali- 
fornia. He  then  resigned  from  the  University;  and  after 
much  hesitation  I  left  the  University  of  Michigan  to  take 
his  place. 

Thus,  when  I  arrived  in  California  in  1875,  I  found  a 
rather  unhappy  situation.  The  most  influential  portion  of 
the  farming  population  was  solidly  arrayed  against  the 
University,  determined  to  detach  the  College  of  Agriculture 
from  it,  and  in  the  meantime  enforcing  a  boycott  against 


21 

the  attendance  of  farmers'  boys  as  students.  They  clamored 
for  the  reinstatement  of  my  predecessor,  and  for  the  separa- 
tion of  the  College  of  Agriculture,  which  they  claimed  was 
discriminated  against  by  Regents,  Faculty  and  students, 
who  looked  down  upon  agriculture  as  an  inferior  pursuit, 
and  that  their  boys  would  there  be  * '  educated  away  from  the 
farm."  At  every  legislative  session,  for  a  number  of  years, 
the  agitation  for  separation  was  resumed,  and  in  the  inter- 
vals it  was  advocated  in  tfce  newspapers.  For  a  time  the 
situation  looked  most  discouraging,  the  more  as  I  was  the 
sole  representative  of  the  college,  and  a  stranger  to  the 
people  of  the  state. 

During  the  first  two  years  no  students  applied  for  the 
course  in  agriculture  proper;  but  I  gave  lectures  on  botany 
and  mineralogy,  which  were  lacking  at  the  time.  I  also 
delivered  lectures  on  various  technical  subjects  in  San  Fran- 
cisco and  Oakland,  and  tried  to  start  Farmers'  Institute 
meetings  at  outside  points;  but  these  were  at  first  very 
thinly  attended.  I  also  announced  that  I  would  investigate 
any  questions  or  problems  submitted  to  me  by  farmers; 
and  it  may  be  interesting  to  recall  the  fact  that  thus,  in 
June,  1875,  the  first  Experiment  Station  in  the  United 
States  was  definitely  established  in  California,  the  experi- 
mental orchard  having  already  been  planted  in  1873. 

Gradually  these  activities  told  upon  the  attitude  of  the 
farmers,  and  I  was  at  last  invited  to  address  some  public 
meetings  of  granges,  where  I  had  the  opportunity  to  explain 
my  views  and  intentions.  I  laid  special  stress  upon  the 
fact  that  they  themselves  were  depreciating  the  dignity  of 
their  calling  by  trying  to  keep  their  sons  out  of  contact 
with  the  rest  of  the  educated  professional  men  of  the  state ; 
that  there  existed  at  the  University  no  such  snobbishness 
as  they  imagined  would  "wean  their  boys  from  the  farm,'* 
and  that  they  should  assert,  and  not  depreciate  themselves. 
I  asked  why  they  themselves  sent  so  few  farmers  to  the 
legislature  instead  of  lawyers  and  doctors.  The  hesitating 
answer  was  that  when  they  did  send  farmers  to  Sacramento 


22 


they  were  ''bamboozled"  by  the  lawyers  and  doctors  and 
made  to  vote  their  way.  "Then,"  said  I,  "what  you  really 
need  is  better  educated  farmers,  and  more  of  them,  trained 
alongside  of  the  other  professional  men  and  able  to  hold 
their  own  with  them ;  so  send  your  sons  to  the  Agricultural 
College  and  the  University,  instead  of  trying  to  put  them 
in  the  country  by  themselves.  We  need  to  introduce  educa- 
tion in  agriculture  into  the  public  schools  and  secondary 
schools,  all  over  the  state,  and  for  that  purpose  we  must 
have  teachers,  and  these  teachers  must  be  trained  at  the 
University.  So  long  as  your  boys  know  nothing  but  the 
daily  grind  you  give  them  on  the  farm,  and  the  'three  RV 
as  taught  in  the  country  school,  they  will  surely  be  drawn 
from  the  farm,  and  the  best  of  them  will  drift  to  the  cities, 
as  you  complain  they  do." 

While  this  point  of  view  was  not  always  taken  kindly,  it 
impressed  a  good  many,  and  gradually  students  in  agri- 
culture came  in  from  the  country.  Among  the  first  to  do  so 
were  sons  of  viticulturists  from  Napa  and  Sonoma  valleys, 
from  where  also  came  the  first  movement  for  an  appropria- 
tion for  a  viticultural  building  and  necessary  cellar  for 
experimental  work.  The  outcome  of  these  first  efforts  might 
have  been  seen  in  the  little  frame  building,  40x18  feet,  that 
spanned  the  creek  until  recently,  just  below  this  present 
building;  and  I  regret  that  it  was  not  allowed  to  stand 
until  today,  by  way  of  affording  a  comparison  of  those 
times  with  the  present,  as  evidence  of  the  progress  made 
since  then. 

Yet,  while  the  agitation  for  the  separation  of  the  Col- 
lege of  Agriculture  from  the  University  became  less  active, 
so  that  we  can  now  claim  the  Grangers  as  our  very  best 
friends,  there  remained  enough  to  defeat,  at  successive 
sessions  of  the  legislature,  our  efforts  to  secure  an  appro- 
priation for  an  adequate  building  or  buildings  for  the  Col- 
lege of  Agriculture  at  Berkeley.  The  secessionists  "held 
up"  all  such  efforts  in  committees,  or  by  means  of  amend- 
ments or  riders  at  the  last  moments,  although  liberal  appro- 


23 


priations  for  other  purposes  were  favored  by  them.  Here 
again  it  was  the  influence  of  the  viticultural  interest  that 
first  pushed  through  the  legislature  an  outright  appropria- 
tion for  a  building;  but  it  was  rendered  so  inadequate  by 
a  little  clause  slipped  in  that  it  sufficed  for  only  half  a 
building.  But  we  built  this  on  a  large  foundation  and 
when  it  was  halfway  up  the  first  floor  was  roofed  over  with 
a  temporary  roof  of  felt,  leaving  the  second  floor  an 
"aching  void."  At  the  next  session  of  the  legislature  a 
committee  of  university  inspection  was  sent  from  Sacra- 
mento. They  commented  with  some  amusement  on  the 
"rump"  building  representing  the  College  of  Agriculture, 
and  promptly  reported  on  their  return  a  bill  appropriating 
funds  enough  to  complete  the  building  and  equip  it 
modestly. 

That  building,  grown  up  by  instalments,  housed  the 
College  of  Agriculture  up  to  March,  1897,  when  it  burned 
down  to  the  first  floor,  with  heavy  loss  in  collections  and 
equipment.  In  rebuilding  it  was  lengthened  by  fifty  feet, 
thus  adding  the  present  large  lecture  room  and  the  much- 
needed  rooms  above  it.  How  even  with  this  enlargement 
the  building  soon  became  totally  inadequate  for  the  accom- 
modation of  the  rapidly  increasing  demands  and  activities, 
and  how  the  working  staff  was  forced  to  expand  into  several 
neighboring  buildings,  including  a  horse  stable,  is  known 
to  all  here  present.  The  second  Morrill  Act,  the  Hatch  Act, 
and  the  Adams  Act,  the  last  two  specially  providing  for 
experimental  work,  supplied  the  means  for  work  but  not 
for  buildings,  and  so  served  to  increase  the  over-crowding. 
Legislative  provision  for  a  permanent  building  was  still 
unobtainable  owing  to  the  opposition  already  referred  to; 
but  the  Regents,  appreciating  the  importance  of  a  creditable 
permanent  agricultural  building  on  the  University  grounds, 
appropriated  the  means  for  the  present  building  out  of  the 
general  University  income.  This  accomplished  fact  before 
us,  I  hail  as  the  final  happy  termination  of  the  forty  years' 
contention  for  the  principle  of  having  the  university 


24 


educate,  in  the  man,  the  leaders,  experts,  and  teachers  who 
are  to  carry  the  principles  and  practice  of  rational  agri- 
culture to  the  farmers  at  large,  and  to  the  public  schools. 
That  this  must  ultimately  be  done  through  the  agency  of  the 
secondary  schools,  gradually  working  down  into  the  graded 
schools,  is  an  obvious  proposition  which  is  happily  empha- 
sized by  the  late  introduction  into  congress  of  the  "Lever 
Bill,"  providing  for  extension  teaching  in  agriculture,  and 
by  the  broader  bill  of  Mr.  Page,  again  of  Vermont,  provid- 
ing both  for  extension  teaching  and  for  that  in  high  and 
lower  schools ;  thus  going  to  the  very  root  of  the  matter  of 
the  agricultural  education  of  the  masses  of  the  farmers' 
boys  and  girls,  only  a  few  of  whom  can  go  to  an  agri- 
cultural college. 

I  hail  with  intense  satisfaction  this  consummation  de- 
voutely  to  be  wished,  of  which  the  establishment  of  the 
Farm  School  at  Davis  is  the  beginning,  which  I  trust  will 
be  greatly  extended  and  multiplied  by  the  new  Dean  and 
Director  whom  we  welcome  today.  Whether  separate  agri- 
cultural schools,  or  adjuncts  to  high  schools  be  preferable, 
the  movement  for  popular  agricultural  education  has  now 
gathered  such  force  that,  like  other  revolutions,  it  cannot 
go  backward,  but  will  gain  additional  momentum  from 
year  to  year. 

THE  PEESENTATION  OF  THE  KEY  BY  G.  W.  FOSTER 

Mr.  President  and  Friends  of  the  University,  I  have 
been  requested,  on  behalf  of  the  Regents,  to  present  to  you, 
Mr.  President,  the  key  of  Agriculture  Hall,  the  dedication 
of  which  we  are  this  day  celebrating.  In  doing  so,  I  feel 
embarrassed  at  the  task  of  even  attempting  to  express  the 
feelings  which  I  personally  hold  in  seeing  such  an  artistic 
and  practicable  building,  adequate  for  the  purpose,  dedi- 
cated to  agriculture. 

Since  my  earliest  connection  with  the  University  I  have 
recognized  the  importance  to  this  state  of  this  great  branch 


25 


of  learning.  I  have  often  noted  the  indifference  towards 
it  from  quarters  where  encouragement  should  have  come, 
but  now  I  am  pleased,  not  only  to  express  my  gratification 
but  also  of  those  who  have  consistently  worked  and  waited 
to  see  the  Department  of  Agriculture  take  the  leading  place 
it  deserves  in  the  energies  of  the  University. 

With  the  aid  of  Dean  Hunt  and  such  a  competent  corps 
of  professors  which  he  has  had  the  good  fortune  to  secure, 
with  the  aid  and  encouragement  of  the  state,  which  is  so 
essential  to  our  development  and  success,  with  an  appreci- 
ative and  united  people  to  encourage  our  efforts  to  make 
the  agricultural  department  of  the  University  of  California 
second  to  none  in  our  great  country,  the  Regents  cannot 
but  feel  that  the  outlook  for  great  results  to  the  state  at 
large  is  most  promising. 


REMARKS  BY  RAY  R.  INGEL8  AT  THE  PRESENTATION  OF 
THE  HILGARD  BUST 

A  little  over  a  year  ago,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Agricultural 
Club,  a  question  was  brought  forward  as  to  the  best  way 
we  could  honor  our  famous  old  scientist,  Dr.  Hilgard. 
After  some  discussion  we  finally  decided  that  nothing  would 
be  more  appropriate  than  a  bust  of  Dr.  Hilgard  placed  in 
the  new  building  to  be. 

We  had  the  hearty  support  of  the  Faculty,  not  alone 
of  the  Agricultural  College  but  of  all  the  colleges  in  the 
University.  We  also  had  the  support  of  the  college  alumni 
and  of  Dr.  Hilgard 's  many  friends  throughout  the  state. 
Dr.  Hilgard  himself  consented  to  sit  for  the  artist,  and 
Mr.  Ralph  Stackpole,  a  young  sculptor  living  in  San  Fran- 
cisco, was  procured  to  do  the  work. 

Perhaps  it  would  be  wrell  to  state  here  our  reasons  for 
trying  to  bestow  honor  upon  Dr.  Hilgard.  We  are  trying 
to  honor  a  man  whom  as  a  man  we  all  respect,  admire,  and 
love  as  we  do  a  member  of  our  own  families.  We  are  try- 


26 

ing  to  honor  a  college  professor,  the  former  dean  of  our 
college,  for  the  great  scientific  work  which  he  has  accom- 
plished under  great  difficulties.  Finally  we  are  trying  to 
honor  a  man  who  has  brought  honor  to  the  name  of  Uni- 
versity of  California.  His  great  work  has  not  alone  brought 
honor  to  himself  but  has  also  reflected  glory  on  his  Uni- 
versity. That  is  the  chief  reason  that  we  are  giving  this 
bust. 

And  now,  in  the  name  of  the  students,  the  alumni,  and 
Faculty  of  the  University,  and  of  Dr.  Hilgard's  many 
friends,  I  take  great  pleasure  in  presenting  to  the  Uni- 
versity the  bust  of  Dr.  E.  W.  Hilgard. 


EEMAEKS  BY  E.  J.  WICKSON  AT  THE  UNVEILING  OF  THE 
BUST  OF  E.  W.  HILGABD 

I  am  a  little  disconcerted  by  the  task  allotted  to  me.  In 
searching  the  records  of  public  unveilings  from  Phidias  to 
the  Panama-Pacific  Exposition,  I  do  not  find  any  satisfying 
suggestion  of  what  it  is  safe  to  say  when  called  upon  to 
unveil  a  bust  in  the  presence  of  the  person  who  is  honored. 
Manifestly,  I  cannot  tell  the  bust  what  I  think  of  the 
original  without  danger  of  reprisals  by  the  latter;  nor 
dare  I  tell  the  original  what  I  think  of  the  bust — for  fear 
of  the  sculptor.  The  only  safe  way  for  me  to  proceed,  I 
think,  will  be  to  undertake  a  brief  discourse  on  "The  rela- 
tion of  some  fundamentals  of  art  to  the  development  of  the 
Agricultural  Department  of  the  University  of  California. 
In  this  way  I  may  impress  upon  you  the  essential  features 
of  the  present  situation  and  give  us  all  a  chance  to  escape 
with  our  lives. 

The  particular  thing  which  this  department  lacks  worse 
and  needs  most  is  perspective ;  and  that,  I  take  it,  is  a  funda- 
mental of  art.  Since  the  University  of  California  began 
its  agricultural  career  in  1869,  four  men  have  been  elected 
to  leadership  in  agriculture — and  three  of  them  are  here 


27 


today.  Since  the  University  established  its  experiment 
station  in  1875,  the  oldest,  by  the  way,  in  the  United  States, 
three  men  have  been  elected  directors  thereof — and  they 
all  stand  before  you  this  morning.  Our  picture  has  no 
perspective:  it  is  all  foreground:  it  is  flat  as  the  mural 
paintings  of  Nineveh.  But  it  is  full  of  action:  there  is 
sequence  in  it  and  there  is  a  scale  of  values  and  we  make 
our  great  men  large  by  defying  perspective,  as  the  Egyp- 
tians did. 

Thus  we  can  symbolize  progress.  We  can  also  recognize 
progress  in  the  mass,  for  there  are  things  here  which  before 
were  not — and  these  things  have  been  increasingly  here  for 
we  see  the  resources  of  the  department,  in  officers  and 
students  and  its  products,  in  courses  of  instruction  and  in 
publications,  increased  from  five  hundred  to  a  thousand  per 
cent  during  the  last  decade.  Still  there  is  no  perspective, 
for  it  is  all  so  new  and  the  men  who  have  accomplished 
this  are  still  at  work.  But  we  are  now  laying  the  founda- 
tions for  a  perspective.  What  we  are  doing  today  will  be 
counted  a  century  hence  as  the  beginnings  of  things. 

Probably  the  best  thing  we  can  undertake  for  the  future 
is  to  fix  a  vanishing  point  in  our  horizon  line,  but  what 
can  we  do  who  have  had  to  work  with  physical  things  which 
would  not  remain  long  enough  to  vanish  in  a  decently 
orderly  manner — with  things  which  stayed  not  upon  the 
order  of  their  going  but  went  at  once?  Look  at  the  agri- 
cultural emblems  on  the  sides  of  South  Hall:  they  were 
emblazoned  to  the  honor  of  this  department,  but,  from  its 
burrow  in  the  basement,  agriculture  looked  outward  and  up- 
ward at  them — as  a  man  might  be  imagined  to  be  looking 
from  his  grave  in  wrapt  admiration  of  the  tracery  on  his 
tombstone.  South  Hall  was  never  an  "agricultural  build- 
ing" except  in  a  decorative  sense.  Twenty-five  years  ago 
we  forsook  the  cellar  of  South  Hall  and  captured  an 
abandoned  carpenter  shop  and  it  became  the  first  "agri- 
cultural building"  of  the  University.  It  was  last  seen 
spanning  the  creek  just  below  the  slope  on  which  we  are  now 


standing  and  as  this  new  building  was  rising,  I  often 
thought  how  dramatic  it  would  be  to  point  from  this  noble 
granite  building  to  the  creek-spanning  shack  below  and 
thus  indicate  the  growth  of  the  department.  It  was  our 
only  chance  of  suggesting  a  physical  perspective.  But  a 
few  weeks  ago  someone,  ignorant  of  the  sacred  memory  of 
the  old  building,  knocked  it  to  pieces — for  blotting  the 
landscape,  no  doubt.  What  can  we  do  to  get  the  foundation 
for  a  perspective  when  buildings  depart  and  men  alone  are 
permanent  ? 

In  the  thick  ruck  of  recency  in  which  we  are  enfolded 
we  gape  for  something  which  will  serve  future  generations 
as  a  vanishing  point  for  their  perspective  and  happily  we 
find  it  and  hold  it  aloft  and,  lo,  it  is  the  life  of  a  man! 
And  so  we  carve  an  exponent  of  it  in  enduring  bronze  and 
place  it  at  the  entrance  of  our  first  enduring  building  and 
charge  it  to  mark  the  beginnings  of  a  new  epoch — an  epoch 
in  which  agriculture  will  really  attain  the  prominence  in 
University  affairs  which  was  intended  by  those  who 
arranged  for  the  establishment  of  this  institution  in  the 
congress  of  the  United  States  in  1862.  This  achievement  is 
based  upon  the  thought  and  work  of  Hilgard.  All  his 
associates  accept  him  as  an  exponent  of  their  ideals  of 
agricultural  science  of  their  efforts  toward  dissemination  of 
agricultural  intelligence  and  of  their  confidence  in  agri- 
cultural development  in  this  state.  They  have  shared  with 
him  for  years,  full  recognition  of  the  opportunity  for  the 
erection  here  of  an  institution  which  shall  stand  pre- 
eminent not  only  in  the  demonstration  of  principle  but  in 
the  exposition  of  the  peculiar  arts  of  production  which  shall 
signalize  the  Pacific  Ocean  countries  as  the  greatest  on 
earth  in  the  extent  and  variety  of  their  agriculture. 

We  unveil,  then,  this  effigy  of  Hilgard,  not  as  a  me- 
morial of  his,  for  he  needs  none ;  his  fame  will  live  without 
such  a  token ;  his  life  is  written  in  his  work  and  that  cannot 
be  forgotten.  What  purpose,  then,  does  this  bronze  serve? 
It  is  an  enduring  record  of  our  appreciation  of  Hilgard :  a 


29 

monument  to  our  own  insight  and  sagacity.  We  do  not 
propose  to  have  some  smug  commentator  of  some  coming 
century  write  in  his  books:  "There  was,  at  the  beginning 
of  the  twentieth  century,  a  man  in  California  named  Hil- 
gard,  whose  life  and  work  are  in  the  foundation  of 
America's  contribution  to  agriculture  science,  but  his  associ- 
ates did  not  recognize  his  greatness." 

And  so  we  throw  this  bronze  into  the  face  of  the  future 
and  we  cry  aloud  to  coming  generations: 

'  *  This  is  our  Hilgard !  It  will  cost  you  great  aspiration 
to  produce  a  better  man." 


ADDRESS  OF  TIK  >.MAS  FORSYTH  HUNT  ON  THE  MOTIVE  OF 

THE    COLLEGE    OF   AGRICULTURE    OF    THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

The  men  and  women  connected  with  the  College  of 
Agriculture  and  Experiment  Station  have  for  their  aim 
the  development  of  the  agricultural  resources  of  California. 
The  word  agriculture  is  here  used  in  its  broadest  signifi- 
cance: namely,  the  economic  production  of  living  things. 
The  agency  through  which  this  body  of  men  and  women 
is  to  accomplish  its  purpose  is  the  University  of  California, 
but  I  wish  here  and  now  publicly  to  announce  that  they 
are  eager  to  co-operate  with  all  other  agencies — federal, 
state,  or  private — which  may  have  for  their  main  purpose 
the  maintenance  in  California  of  a  successful  family  life. 

The  assertion  of  Dr.  Carver  is  fully  accepted,  that  if 
one  admits  that  life  is  worth  living,  he  who  allows  the  love 
of  money,  or  power,  or  land,  or  science,  or  literature  to 
interfere  with  the  rearing  of  a  noble  family  commits  a 
criminal  act.  It  is  not  necessary  that  every  one  should 
assume  the  marriage  relation,  but  when  a  couple  has  taken 
each  other  for  better  or  worse,  it  is  a  crime  to  permit  any 


30 


other  motive  or  ambition  to  prevent  the  rearing  of  a  worthy 
family.  A  man's  business  should  be  his  means  of  making 
a  successful  home  and  not  the  means  of  getting  a  front 
page  illustration.  Between  the  age  of  twenty-five  and  fifty 
the  wife  may  well  assist  in  this  enterprise. 

I  was  permitted  recently  to  sit  at  the  table  of  a  capable 
woman.  She  exclaimed:  "I  am  a  free  woman.  I  am 
fifty.  I  no  longer  need  to  conceal  my  age."  According 
to  the  law  of  probabilities  this  woman  has  twenty  years 
to  devote  through  education  and  politics  to  promoting  the 
social  welfare.  The  women  of  her  class  have  the  power 
to  become  through  their  mature  judgment  and  culture  the 
greatest  and  most  benign  influence  in  every  community. 

It  is  so  plain  that  he  who  runs  may  read  that  not  only 
can  no  development  of  agriculture  be  considered  wise  which 
does  not  lead  to  a  successful  family  life,  but  that  in  Cali- 
fornia a  proper  development  of  its  agriculture  is  essential 
to  this  end.  The  acceptance  of  this  doctrine  by  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  race  would  solve  many  if  not  most  of  the  difficulties 
which  beset  the  body  politic.  It  is  the  home-loving  people 
who  inherit  the  earth.  It  is  the  immediate  duty  of  the 
College  of  Agriculture  through  research  and  education  to 
make  the  agriculture  of  California  more  prosperous. 
Through  its  various  divisions,  it  is  straining  every  nerve 
to  solve  the  material  problems  which  beset  those  who  create 
wealth  from  the  soil.  It  is  its  chief  duty,  however,  to 
develop  those  methods  of  agriculture  which  are  of  greatest 
benefit  to  society.  The  College  of  Agriculture  is  not  pri- 
marily interested  in  whether  the  profits  of  agriculture 
enable  the  ranchman  to  substitute  for  his  $3000  automo- 
bile a  $5000  motor  car,  but  it  conceives  its  chief  concern 
to  be  a  prosperity  that  leads  to  the  proper  economic,  social, 
moral,  and  spiritual  ideals  in  the  community. 

When  the  interests  of  the  individual  and  those  of  society 
become  opposing  forces,  then  here  as  elsewhere  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  human  race  individual  interests  must  be  sacri- 
ficed for  the  benefit  of  the  common  good.  Lest  I  be  mis- 


31 


understood,  permit  me  to  moralize  for  a  moment.  While 
the  trait  which  we  honor  most  in  any  individual,  the  trait 
which  has  made  all  truly  great  heroes,  is  sacrifice,  it  does 
not  follow  that  there  is  no  virtue  without  sacrifice.  In 
the  new  conception  of  a  successful  life,  we  do  not  have 
prosperity  without  morality,  but  we  have  prosperity  be- 
cause of  morality.  Efficiency  and  morality  may  not  be 
synonymous  terms,  but  they  are  mighty  good  chums. 

This,  then,  shall  be  the  keynote  of  the  College  of  Agri- 
culture. Those  who  shape  its  destinies  will  never  forget 
that  it  was  formed  and  continues  to  exist  to  promote  the 
material  welfare,  but  they  will  always  recognize  that  this 
material  welfare  is  for  the  sake  of  a  successful  human 
existence  and  that  primarily  this  is  based  upon  human 
efficiency.  Five  thousand  years  ago  the  natural  resources 
of  these  hills  and  valleys  were,  so  far  as  we  know,  as  great 
as  they  are  to-day.  The  Aladdin-like  development  that  has 
occurred  from  Imperial  to  Shasta  during  fifty  years  is  due 
to  a  hardy  and  efficient  race  of  people.  This  race  must 
be  perpetuated.  Once  more  I  wish  to  repeat  that  the  fac- 
ulty of  the  College  of  Agriculture  invites  the  co-operation, 
support,  and  guidance  of  all  agencies  which  believe  in  this 
programme. 

If  now  we  take  a  hasty  glance  into  the  future  we  can- 
not fail  to  be  impressed  by  the  fact  that  the  two  great  prob- 
lems before  California  are  to  stabilize  its  water  supply  and 
humanize  its  labor  supply.  A  few  simple  concrete  illus- 
trations may  be  better  than  much  abstract  discussion.  In 
the  Salt  River  Valley,  Arizona,  approximately  ten  million 
dollars  have  been  expended,  including  the  great  Roosevelt 
Dam,  to  stabilize  the  water  supply  over  130,000  acres  of 
already  irrigated  country  and  to  bring  100,000  acres  of 
the  desert  under  the  irrigation  ditch.  It  was  expected  that 
this  greatest  reclamation  enterprise  in  the  United  States 
would  furnish  about  two  dollars'  worth  of  water  per  acre. 
In  other  words,  a  gross  income  per  annum  of  about  one-half 
a  million  dollars  was  anticipated.  Although  the  enterprise 


32 

has  scarcely  been  completed  in  all  its  details,  already  it  has 
contracts  for  one  million  dollars  worth  of  electric  energy. 
It  is  said  that  there  is  nowhere  any  more  livable  region 
than  in  the  foothills  of  the  California  mountains.  Here 
can  be  developed  unlimited  power  without  the  loss  of  any 
natural  resource  except  the  oil  required  to  lubricate  the 
machinery.  In  developing  the  power,  the  water  in  the  val- 
leys will  be  mobilized.  When  this  is  accomplished  California 
will  have  ten  millions  of  people  in  place  of  two  and  a  half 
millions.  The  slogan  for  California  should  not  be  one  mil- 
lion persons  for  this  or  that  city,  depending  upon  which 
part  of  the  State  one  is  from,  but  two  million  families  for 
California.  Cover  your  hills  and  fill  up  your  valleys  with 
homes,  and  the  cities  will  take  care  of  themselves. 

A  certain  rich  man  who  made  himself  wealthy  by  mixing 
a  well  known  California  product  with  a  commodity  not 
unknown  to  any  state  and  selling  it  as  a  cure  for  various 
ills,  purchased  a  considerable  tract  of  land  in  a  State  fa- 
mous for  the  Presidents  which  it  has  produced  and  began 
breeding  Percheron  horses.  This  man  had  the  money  to  buy 
the  best  horses  of  the  breed.  He  was  capable  of  employing 
the  most  expert  superintendents.  The  soil  and  climate  were 
sufficiently  like  that  of  "La  Perche ' '  to  satisfy  the  require- 
ments of  horse  breeding.  One  day  I  chanced  to  meet  a 
groomsman,  who  declared  that  the  enterprise  was  doomed 
to  failure.  "Why?"  he  was  asked.  "Because  the  Perche- 
ron horse  is  the  result  of  loving  care  by  generations  of 
farmers.  Mr.  Blank,  with  all  his  millions,  cannot  purchase 
these  generations  of  men  without  whom  these  horses  are 
not  possible."  Our  rich  friend  still  operates  his  land,  but 
he  has  long  since  ceased  to  try  to  breed  horses. 

California  has  rich  river  valleys  whose  conditions  are 
like  those  which  generations  of  Holland  farmers  have  made 
famous.  Canada  has  its  agents  in  the  lowlands  inducing 
the  Holland  farmers  to  migrate  to  this  northern  country, 
while  our  river  valleys  with  their  mild  climate  remain  unde- 
veloped. To  develop  this  State  with  the  least  human  sacri- 


33 

fice  some  selective  process  of  locating  people  upon  the  land 
is  needed.  It  is  said  that  the  farmers  in  the  countries 
bordering  upon  the  Mediterranean  Sea  are  now  saving  their 
money  against  the  time  of  the  opening  of  the  Panama  Canal. 
When  the  thrifty  Mediterranean  folk  come  to  our  shore  it 
will  be  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  world  that  these 
races  have  migrated  to  a  country  which  was  similar  in 
its  possibilities  to  their  own.  To  entice  these  people  upon 
land  by  means  of  "decoys"  would  be  a  social  and  economic 
crime.  We  need  to  study  the  history  and  adaptation  of 
the  peoples  who  now  live  in  regions  with  natural  conditions 
similar  to  our  own.  Instead  of  alluring  the  off-scourings 
we  should  by  some  selective  process  secure  the  intelligent, 
thrifty,  moral  countryman  whose  generations  of  experience 
will  help  to  develop  this  country.  When  he  arrives  he 
should  be  located  among  natural  conditions  with  which  he 
has  been  familiar  and  protected  until  he  has  his  industry 
upon  its  feet.  It  would  be  a  form  of  protection  that  would 
protect.  If  you  wish  to  compete  with  the  peoples  of  the 
world  you  must  develop  in  every  locality  that  industry 
which  naturally  does  best  in  that  particular  region,  and 
you  must  put  it  in  the  hands  of  people  who  are  the  most 
expert  in  that  particular  industry.  By  no  other  process 
can  a  state  be  developed  to  its  highest  efficiency. 

The  President  and  Board  of  Regents  will  be  asked  to 
establish  a  department  in  the  College  of  Agriculture  to  be 
known  as  the  Department  of  New  Agricultural  Industries. 
Already  the  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture  and 
the  State  Experiment  Stations  have  done  splendid  work  in 
Plant  Introduction.  The  introduction  of  a  plant  and  the 
establishment  of  an  industry  upon  that  plant,  however, 
are  two  widely  different  things.  This  department  of  New 
Agricultural  Industries  will  not  bear  research  nor  a  teach- 
ing department  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  term.  Its 
duty  will  be  to  study  the  agricultural  industries  of  regions 
having  conditions  similar  to  California  and  to  study  our 
own  State  with  reference  to  any  industries  which  investi- 


34 


gation  may  seem  desirable  to  transplant.  Last  week  we 
were  told  that  Palestine  is  an  exact  counterpart  of  Cali- 
fornia, except  that  Palestine  is  only  one-tenth  the  size. 
Within  this  diminutive  area  it  duplicates  the  Sacramento 
and  San  Joaquin  valleys,  the  valleys  of  the  coast  and  the 
Sierra  Nevadas  and  Coast  Ranges.  There  is  the  same  vari- 
ation in  climatic  conditions  and  above  all  they  have  a  four 
thousand  year  old  agriculture.  No  one  knows  what  agricul- 
tural lessons  this  old  world  holds  in  store  for  us.  Perhaps 
it  may  yet  enable  us  to  become  the  greater  Palestine  of  a 
new  civilization. 

We  have  been  discussing  a  century  long  programme  and 
a  state  wide  movement.  Every  man  and  woman  in  this 
audience  will  have  been  gathered  in  by  Father  Time  long 
before  our  water  supply  has  been  fully  stabilized  and  our 
labor  supply  fully  humanized.  We  are  not  now  dealing 
with  the  individual,  but  with  society.  If  society  is  not 
able  to  look  beyond  the  confines  of  its  individual  members 
it  is  doomed  to  eternal  damnation. 

It  may  have  occurred  to  some  of  you  that  the  questions 
which  have  been  discussed  are  beyond  the  realm  of  the 
institution  which  I  for  the  moment  represent.  What  has 
been  said  is  for  the  purpose  of  emphasizing  the  fact  that 
the  University  of  California  is  perforce  the  leader  of 
thought  in  all  that  relates  to  the  welfare  of  the  State  and 
its  College  of  Agriculture,  if  it  is  to  be  effective,  must  be 
the  leader  in  all  that  relates  to  the  development  of  Agricul- 
ture. To  fail  to  accept  such  leadership  would  be  to  fail 
to  understand  the  responsibility  that  is  placed  upon  it.  Any 
other  attitude  upon  the  part  of  the  people,  whose  child  the 
institution  is,  would  be  reprehensible. 

Pedagogically  speaking — I  use  that  phrase  because  I  do 
not  know  what  it  means — the  College  of  Agriculture  has 
two  ambitions:  one  is  to  become  the  post-graduate  institu- 
tion in  Agriculture  for  the  western  third  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  other  is  to  supply  the  demand  in  California 
for  teachers  of  agriculture  in  the  secondary  schools.  To 


35 


receive  the  agricultural  graduates  of  the  western  third  of 
the  United  States  and  train  them  for  greater  service  in 
the  institutions  from  which  they  came  is  not  only  a  privi- 
lege but  a  responsibility  and  one  which  every  other  insti- 
tution will  welcome.  If  this  institution  assists  in  the  prep- 
aration of  the  future  instructors  and  investigators  of  our 
western  colleges  and  prepares  the  teachers  of  agriculture 
for  the  high  schools  of  California,  it  will  be  performing  a 
service  of  untold  value.  The  two  ambitions  to  which  ref- 
erence has  just  been  made  are,  of  course,  after  all  only  a 
minor  part  of  the  educational  work  of  the  College  of 
Agriculture? 

In  developing  our  undergraduate  departments,  at  least 
some  of  them  will  be  organized  around  the  industries.  Al- 
ready we  have  the  Departments  of  Dairy  Industry,  Animal 
Industry,  Agronomy  or  field  culture,  Citriculture,  Viticul- 
ture, Pomology  or  deciduous  tree  fruits,  Floriculture  and 
landscape  gardening.  The  reasons  for  this  are  many  and 
complex,  but  one  important  reason  is  that  we  are  not  teach- 
in  LT  subjects,  but  students.  The  student  is  going  to  become 
a  lawyer,  or  a  citrus  grower,  or  a  doctor,  or  a  stock  raiser, 
or  a  teacher,  or  a  dairyman.  Harvard  was  founded  to  train 
ministers  and  afterwards  because  ministers  often  gave  so- 
called  medical  advice,  it  began  to  train  physicians.  Later 
lawyers  were  brought  in  out  of  the  rain. 

The  land  grant  colleges  were  founded  to  train  young 
men  and  women  in  the  several  pursuits  and  professions  of 
life,  of  which  housekeeping  is  one — in  some  localities.  The 
difficulty  with  agricultural  teachers  has  been  that  they  have 
been  absorbed  in  the  pursuit  of  knowledge  and  obsessed 
with  the  importance  of  their  discoveries.  Greek  must  be 
made  a  good  training  subject  or  it  cannot  justify  its  ex- 
istence in  the  university  curriculum.  Agriculture  can  be 
made  just  as  good  a  training  subject  if  we  remember  we 
are  dealing  with  young  men  who  have  red  blood  in  their 
veins  and  who  have  an  ambition  to  live  a  life  of  usefulness 
and  power.  If  we  forget  it,  they  had  better  study  Greek. 


36 


The  successful  teacher  of  agricultural  subjects  must  not 
only  be  concerned  with  his  subject  and  with  his  students, 
but  if  he  is  also  an  investigator,  as  every  good  teacher  should 
be,  he  must  concern  himself  with  the  people  in  the  industry 
which  he  teaches.  There  is  no  state  in  the  Union  where 
it  is  so  necessary  for  the  agricultural  professor  to  know 
thoroughly  his  subject  before  he  undertakes  to  deal  with 
the  men  who  make  their  living  from  agriculture  as  here. 
In  California  they  do  not  hunt  grizzlies  with  shotguns. 

The  College  of  Agriculture  is  not  merely  a  teaching 
institution.  It  has  three  phases:  research,  education,  and 
public  service.  When  it  comes  to  organizing  its  research 
work,  especially  where  large  questions  and  interests  are  in- 
volved, we  shall  organize  around  the  problem  rather  than 
around  the  industry.  These  strictly  research  departments 
will  not  be  charged  with  undergraduate  teaching,  but  will 
be  permitted  to  take  post-graduate  students.  A  real  post- 
graduate student  is  one  who  is  working  out  some  problem. 
Thus  there  has  been  organized  a  research  department  with 
headquarters  at  Riverside.  There  has  been  called  to  preside 
over  this  department  Dr.  H.  J.  Webber,  Professor  of  Plant 
Breeding  of  Cornell  University,  who  is  one  of  the  best  known 
teachers  of  post-graduate  students  in  this  country. 

In  the  location  of  its  headquarters  the  College  of  Agri- 
culture is  somewhat  unique  among  institutions  of  its  kind. 
Its  location  has  been  looked  upon  as  an  element  of  weak- 
ness. As  the  institution  develops,  I  think  it  will  be  found 
to  be,  on  the  contrary,  an  element  of  great  strength.  It 
puts  us  face  to  face  with  the  problem  of  how  to  give  to  the 
students  of  agriculture  the  training  and  experience  which 
they  must  have  in  order  to  succeed  in  any  one  of  several 
agricultural  pursuits.  The  plan  is  to  bring  the  student  to 
the  close  of  his  sophomore  year  with  as  thorough  a  training 
in  English,  mathematics,  language,  history,  and  science  as 
his  years  of  schooling  will  permit.  In  addition  to  these 
studies,  each  student  before  reaching  the  junior  year  is  to 


37 

receive  instruction  in  the  following  four  agricultural  sub- 
jects : 

Agricultural  Chemistry; 

Soils; 

Plant  Propagation; 

The  Principles  of  Breeding  Plants  and  Animals. 

The  last  I  consider  almost  as  fundamental  as  the  English 
language. 

It  is  believed  that  the  work  of  these  four  subjects  should 
be  required  of  every  student,  whatever  agricultural  pro- 
fession or  pursuit  he  may  subsequently  follow.  Since  they 
are  to  be  required  of  all  students  of  agriculture  and  since 
they  are  the  first  technical  ones  in  the  student's  course, 
great  care  will  be  taken  to  secure  for  these  four  subjects 
inspiring  teachers.  The  student  who  does  not  come  early 
in  his  course  in  contact  with,  at  least,  one  teacher  that 
inspires  him  with  the  love  of  scholarship  and  his  subject 
misses  the  best  part  of  a  college  education.  After  instruc- 
tors have  been  called  they  will  not  be  permitted  to  place 
these  sophomore  subjects  in  the  hands  of  assistants,  while 
they  confine  their  teaching  to  upper  classmen. 

Having  brought  the  student  to  the  close  of  his  sopho- 
more year,  when  he  must  decide  in  what  agricultural  pro- 
fession or  pursuit  he  will  specialize,  the  question  arises 
how,  with  our  present  headquarters,  we  can  offer  him  suit- 
able training.  During  the  past  decade  forestry  schools  have 
been  compelled  to  study  this  problem.  It  is  possible  to 
locate  an  institution  on  a  farm,  but  there  are  some  diffi- 
culties in  locating  it  permanently  in  a  forest.  The  approved 
plan  in  forestry  schools  now  is  to  take  the  students  at  the 
close  of  the  sophomore  year  to  the  forest  camp,  where  for 
eight  weeks  they  are  given  both  theoretical  and  practical 
instruction.  During  the  junior  and  the  first  half  of  the 
senior  years  they  pursue  their  studies  at  the  college.  The 
last  half  of  their  senior  year  they  are  again  taken  to  the 
forest,  where  they  receive  instruction  under  conditions 


38 


which  experience  has  shown  are  essential  to  the  preparation 
of  seasoned  foresters.  When  the  forestry  courses  were  first 
established  the  students  went  to  the  forest  camp  at  the  close 
of  the  junior  year. 

There  are  three  reasons  for  changing  the  camping  period 
to  the  close  of  the  sophomore  year: 

First,  it  serves  to  weed  out  the  faint  hearted.  The 
young  fellow  who  thinks  forestry  was  a  pink  tea  is 
promptly  disillusioned  and  probably  eliminated.  Second, 
it  enables  the  student  to  appreciate  better  the  technical 
subjects  which  he  will  pursue  during  his  junior  and  senior 
years.  Third,  it  offers  the  student  during  his  junior  vaca- 
tion an  opportunity  to  secure  employment  in  his  chosen 
field,  thus  furnishing  money  with  which  to  continue  his 
education  and  valuable  practical  experience. 

Applying  this  principal  to  our  own  problem,  we  may 
send  sophomores  who  would  specialize  in  dairying  or  animal 
husbandry  to  Davis,  those  who  would  specialize  in  agron- 
omy either  to  Davis  or  Fresno,  and  those  who  wish  to 
engage  in  horticultural  pursuits  or  landscape  gardening  to 
Fresno  or  Riverside.  When  we  have  a  department  of  For- 
estry, students  can  go  to  the  forestry  station  at  Chico  or 
at  Santa  Monica.  Students  interested  in  strictly  sub- 
tropical fruits  can  be  taught  at  the  Imperial  Station  some 
of  the  conditions  of  management  in  these  rapidly  develop- 
ing and  truly  fascinating  crops.  Students  who  specialize 
in  soils  could  be  taken  into  the  soil  survey  work  and  given 
actual  training  in  soil  mapping.  If  the  option  is  Agri- 
cultural Chemistry,  Plant  Pathology  or  Entomology,  the 
student  will  find  the  laboratories  at  Berkeley  open  to  him, 
while  students  of  agricultural  education  will  find  their 
training  ground  in  connection  with  the  regular  summer 
school  work  of  the  University. 

As  we  are  now  organized,  students  may  go  to  Davis  the 
last  half  of  their  senior  year,  where  they  can  receive  in- 
struction in  certain  subjects  which  are  developed  better 


there  than  at  Berkeley.    This  is  notably  true  of  instruction 
in  animal  husbandry  and  dairy  industry. 

While  the  University  Farm  at  Davis  is  an  exceedingly 
important  factor  in  the  development  of  the  research  work 
and  is  becoming  a  much  more  important  factor  than  was 
anticipated  in  the  training  of  University  students,  its  most 
unique  feature  is  the  instruction  given  to  University  Farm 
School  students.  In  this  school  an  attempt  is  being  made 
to  solve  the  most  important  educational  question  in  this 
country.  We  have  in  America  a  perfectly  well  understood 
system  of  education: 

Primary  grade  7  to  10 

Grammar   grade   11  to  14 

High  school  grade  15  to  18 

University  grade  19  to  22 

Post-graduate  work  23  to  25 

This  is  a  thoroughly  desirable  system  of  education  and 
one  that  should  be  extended  to  apply  as  nearly  as  possible 
to  every  young  man  and  woman.  There  are,  however,  large 
numbers  of  young  men  who  have  reached  the  age  of  19 
who  do  not  have  the  requirements  for  admission  to  college. 
They  will  not  go  to  the  high  school  because  they  are  be- 
yond high  school  age.  They  could  not  get  the  proper  in- 
struction if  they  did  go,  because  the  method  of  instruction 
must  be  different  for  students  at  19  and  those  of  15  years. 
Age  must  be  recognized  as  a  factor  in  education.  A  young 
man  or  woman  at  19  differs  from  the  boy  or  girl  of  15, 
physically,  mentally,  morally,  and  spiritually.  One  hun- 
dred and  twenty  students  entered  the  University  Farm 
School  at  Davis  this  semester  and  118  entered  freshmen 
in  the  College  of  Agriculture  at  Berkeley.  The  average 
age  of  the  intrants  at  Davis  was  19  years  and  4  months; 
the  average  age  of  the  freshman  intrants  in  agriculture, 
20  years  and  5  months. 

An  agricultural  high  school  is  not  being  conducted  at 
Davis,  but  there  is  being  given  a  three  years '  course  in  Agri- 


40 

culture  to  students  of  university  age  who  do  not  have  the 
requirements  for  admission  to  college.  In  addition  to  the 
students  who  come  to  Davis  because  they  do  not  have  the 
requirements  to  enter  college,  there  are  high  school  grad- 
uates who  desire  to  spend  only  two  years  in  further  study 
and  who  find  the  last  two  years  at  Davis  upon  which  they 
can  enter  better  suited  to  their  needs  than  the  first  two 
years  at  Berkeley.  Every  effort  should  be  made  to  meet 
the  needs  of  this  class  of  men.  The  minimum  age  of 
entrance  at  Davis  should  be  raised  to  18  years,  first,  be- 
cause the  student  should  be  induced  to  exhaust  his  local 
agencies  of  education  before  entering  the  farm  school,  and 
second,  because  when  he  has  completed  his  three  years '  work 
he  should  be  mature  enough  to  enter  upon  business  for 
himself. 

Emphasis  should  be  placed  upon  the  fact  that  the  train- 
ing offered  at  Davis  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  introduction 
of  agriculture  into  the  high  schools.  This  should  be  done, 
but  it  is  a  wholly  different  thing.  The  high  school  system 
should  be  so  arranged  that  every  boy  and  girl  between 
the  ages  of  15  and  18  can  sleep  at  home.  The  boys  and 
girls  between  these  ages  need  their  parents,  and  equally 
important,  perhaps,  the  parents  need  the  children.  Eight- 
een is  the  accepted  age  for  breaking  home  ties.  From  18 
to  22  is  that  transitional  period  during  which  the  young 
man  or  woman  gets  adjusted  to  his  or  her  surroundings. 
A  student  enters  college  a  boy  and  leaves  it  a  man.  In 
some  ways  this  is  the  most  important  fact  concerning  his 
university  career.  If  this  view  is  acepted,  it  will  at  once 
become  apparent  that  the  University  Farm  School  at  Davis 
is  not  a  local  institution.  It  may  be  just  as  useful  to  the 
young  man  who  lives  in  Imperial  Valley  or  in  Butte  County 
as  to  one  born  within  five  miles  of  Davis. 

Unless  the  ranches  of  California  are  to  be  abandoned 
or  are  to  be  cultivated  by  foreigners,  there  are  in  Cali- 
fornia at  this  moment  more  than  8000  young  men  between 
the  ages  of  18  and  21  who  will  some  day  occupy  the  land. 


41 


Less  than  six  hundred  are  now  receiving  instruction  in 
Agriculture  at  Berkeley  and  Davis.  In  a  comparatively 
few  years,  a  thousand  students  of  agriculture  will  be  en- 
rolled at  each  place  unless  we  do  something  to  stop  them. 
It  should  be  determined  at  once  what  is  the  most  efficient 
number  that  can  be  accommodated  at  Davis.  It  should 
be  determined  whether  it  is  to  be  300,  or  600,  or  1000. 
Plans  should  be  made  to  start  a  new  unit  at  Fresno  as  soon 
as  the  most  efficient  number  that  can  be  cared  for  at  Davis 
is  reached.  At  Fresno,  where  the  University  owns  5400 
acres  of  land,  there  is  an  opportunity  to  build  up  the  most 
extensive,  most  varied,  and  best  instruction  in  horticulture, 
both  for  farm  school  and  university,  that  is  to  be  found 
in  the  world.  No  other  such  possibility  exists  anywhere. 
At  Davis  special  emphasis  should  be  placed  upon  dairying, 
animal  husbandry,  and  deciduous  tree  fruits.  At  Fresno, 
the  emphasis  should  be  placed  upon  grapes,  citrus  and  other 
sub-tropical  fruits,  and  upon  alfalfa  and  other  forage  crops. 
Instruction  and  investigations  in  cereals  should  be  devel- 
oped at  both  places.  Under  the  conditions  outlined  a  young 
man  from  Bakersfield  or  El  Centre  might  go  to  Davis  to 
receive  instruction  in  animal  husbandry  and  dairying,  while 
the  young  man  from  Marysville  might  go  to  Fresno  to 
specialize  in  horticultural  subjects. 

The  tentative  organization  and  scope  of  the  College  of 
Agriculture  has  been  set  forth  with  a  good  deal  of  tedious 
detail.  I  am  frank  to  say  that  it  has  been  done  with  a  very 
definite  purpose.  The  desire  has  been  to  make  emphatic 
three  points: 

First — The  College  of  Agriculture  is  located  in  Cali- 
fornia. Berkeley,  Riverside,  Whittier,  Davis,  Meloland 
and  other  places  are  merely  points  of  operation.  Los 
Angeles  is  the  headquarters  of  the  Santa  Fe  Railroad,  but 
the  Santa  Fe  Railroad  is  not  located  in  Los  Angeles.  Last 
year  the  College  of  Agriculture  met  face  to  face  150,000 
citizens  of  California. 


42  -* 

Second — The  work  which  is  carried  on  at  Berkeley, 
Whittier,  and  Davis  is  not  primarily  for  the  development 
of  the  immediate  localities,  but  is  a  part  of  a  general  scheme 
of  education  and  research  which  looks  toward  promoting 
the  general  welfare  of  the  commonwealth.  The  establish- 
ment of  the  Citrus  Experiment  Station  is  not  primarily  for 
the  purpose  of  promoting  the  raising  of  oranges  in  River- 
side County,  but  is  for  the  purpose  of  studying  problems 
which  are  of  the  greatest  importance  wherever  agriculture 
exists  under  an  irrigation  ditch. 

Third — Any  additional  points  of  operation  which  it  may 
hereafter  be  deemed  wise  to  establish  must  be  considered 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  general  plan  which  has  just 
been  outlined  and  of  the  public  welfare  and  not  from  the 
standpoint  of  local  interest.  I  have  faith  that  the  people 
of  California  will  rise  to  this  high  level. 

I  am  not  unmindful  that  there  has  been  some  criticism  of 
the  College  of  Agriculture  and  Experiment  Station  of  the 
University  of  California.  I  am  aware  that  this  criticism 
has  come  from  widely  divergent  sources  and  represents 
widely  different  view  points.  I  am  glad  it  has  occurred.  It 
is  evidence  that  you  believe  that  the  College  of  Agriculture 
represents  something  that  is  worth  while.  If  it  is  con- 
structive criticism,  I  hope  it  will  continue.  What  I  wish 
to  make  clear  is  that  I  believe  you  have  not  fully  understood 
the  importance,  scope,  or  complexity  of  your  agricultural 
college.  I  could  easily  demonstrate  to  you  by  facts  and 
figures  its  relative  importance  among  institutions  of  its 
kind.  This  address  is  already  quite  too  long.  Suffice  is  to 
say  that  the  fact  is,  my  predecessors  have  not  been  ex- 
ploiters. They  and  their  associates  have  quietly  applied 
their  talents  to  the  solution  of  fundamental  questions.  No 
amount  of  criticism  could  swerve  them  from  the  path  which 
to  them  seemed  for  the  ultimate  good.  Viewpoints  may 
change,  but  I  accept,  as  a  sacred  obligation,  the  responsi- 
bility of  carrying  forward  the  motive  which  has  been  their 
guiding  star. 


43 


The  programme  which  has  been  outlined  is  a  large  one. 
It  is  worthy  of  a  great  State.  For  its  success,  it  needs  the 
help  of  every  citizen.  I  believe  it  to  be  both  logical  and 
feasible.  I  ask  for  it  the  candid  criticism  of  every  person 
interested  in  the  public  welfare.  With  the  assured  and 
earnest  support  which  this  programme  has  of  the  President 
and  Board  of  Regents,  I  have  faith — and  I  am  saying  this 
in  the  most  impersonal  and  detached  way — that  it  must 
succeed.  I  trust  that  President  Wheeler  was  prophetic 
when  he  remarked  several  months  ago,  "I  believe  it  will 
appeal  to  the  people  of  California.  They  like  to  do  a  good 
thing." 


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